


Pretty Slick

by disco_agidyne



Category: Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, but it's ok because yosuke's there, personasecretsanta17, souji has a shit day.docx
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 15:19:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13126407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disco_agidyne/pseuds/disco_agidyne
Summary: AKA "How Souji Seta Was Finally Forced To Upgrade From His Flip Phone"Written for Persona Secret Santa 2017





	Pretty Slick

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [nikkesia](https://nikkesia.tumblr.com/) on tumblr for the [2017 Persona Secret Santa exchange](https://personasecretsanta2k17.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> I tried to combine the prompts of "Souji & Yosuke and/or Akira & Ryuji being bros" + "P4 or P5 moment of fluff/badassness." I hope you like it!
> 
> Special thank you to MusicalDefiance for proofreading!
> 
> Warning for non-graphic violence.

Souji’s morning had been less than ideal.  
  
He was supposed to meet up with Yosuke at Shibuya Station at 9:15, or rather, Yosuke’s train from Inaba arrived at Ueno at 9:04, and if all went as planned he’d transfer lines and be at Shibuya at about 9:15.  
  
It was 9:30. Souji’s alarm clock hadn’t gone off that morning, and he’d awoken instead to the sound of his phone abuzz with Yosuke’s texts.  
  
He flew out the door that morning, still pulling his jacket on over a turtleneck that’d been hastily tugged on, collar messy and unfolded, as he made a mad dash for the station.  
  
He’d pulled out his flip phone and started typing out a text, half apology, half ‘meet me halfway,’ when he crashed into someone, their heads clunking together loudly like coconuts as Souji toppled over with the guy in front of him. A high pitched screech came from the guy’s bag as they went down.  
  
“Hey, what’s the big idea?!”  
  
It took Souji a couple seconds before his eyesight lined up and he realized the question had come not from the guy beneath him but from the tougher looking guy who’d been next to him. Souji rolled off of the less threatening one and sat up, rubbing his forehead as he tried to ignore the way that bag on his shoulder was fidgeting around.  
  
“Sorry,” Souji groaned. The person he’d crashed into pushed himself up until he too was sitting. He pulled off his glasses and checked them, then put them back on.  
  
“You better be!”  
  
Souji stared at the person beside him, wondering if a guy who looked to be about his age could possibly have a voice that high. Just as Souji was reminding himself not to judge others for things they can’t control, the other guy bounced his bag and readjusted it on his shoulder.  
  
“Ah… I, um,” Souji started to say, but the other guy just shook his head.  
  
“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a shrug and a voice that suited him far better.  
  
“You alright, man?” his friend asked, crouching down beside them. He rubbed the back of his head and nodded.  
  
“I’ll live.”  
  
His friend helped him up, and then the two of them together offered their hands to Souji. He gladly accepted their help. As Souji brushed the dirt from his clothes, he noticed the one with glasses, the one he’d collided with in the first place, watching him with a raised eyebrow. Their eyes met, and he gave Souji an awkward smile and extended his hand. “I'm Akira.”  
  
“Souji,” Souji answered, quickly shaking Akira’s hand.  
  
Akira nodded to his friend. “This is Ryuji.”  
  
Ryuji gave Akira a weird look, but before he could say anything, Souji had already started to walk away.  
  
“Sorry, but I’ve gotta go. Running late,” Souji said, the words all coming out in a rush. He gave them a small wave and took off, letting out a loud “Nice to meet you!” as he picked up speed.  
  
Akira watched Souji sprint down the sidewalk toward the station, still rubbing the bruise forming where Souji’s forehead had hit him.  
  
Ryuji nudged him. “You recognize him or something?”  
  
Akira winced from the bruise and frowned. “Something like that.”  
  
A cat popped out of his bag.  
  
“You noticed it too, right?”  
  
“Yeah.” Akira nodded.  
  
Ryuji’s eyes shifted back and forth between them, brows pressed down over them. “Noticed what?”  
  
“He’s like us.”  
  
Ryuji’s tiny brows drew closer together, and he opened his mouth, but was cut off by ringing noise at his feet. He knelt down and picked up the teal flip phone.  
  
“This his?” Ryuji made a face at it. “What century is this from?”  
  
Akira took it and flipped it open. The screen informed him there was an incoming call from someone listed as ‘Your Partner’ in the owner’s address book. Akira’s eyes narrowed, and soon his expression didn’t look much different from Ryuji’s.  
  
He answered the call.  
  
“Dude, we were supposed to meet like half an hour ago. Where are you?”  
  
The voice wavered a little, and Akira and Ryuji shared a look.  
  
“You meeting at Shibuya station?” Akira asked.  
  
“Yeah—wait, who is this?”  
  
“He’ll be there soon. When he gets there, tell him not to go anywhere.”  
  
“Wh--”  
  
Akira flipped the phone shut and motioned for Ryuji to follow him.

* * *

  
When Souji arrived at the front of the station he couldn’t see Yosuke. Still panting for breath, he reached into his pants pocket only to find it was empty.  
  
“Where did...”  
  
He started to pat himself down, then jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He took a breath and smiled when he turned to see Yosuke standing behind him.  
  
“You okay? I waved and yelled at you and everything and you just ignored me.”  
  
Yosuke looked a bit shaken, which, in Souji’s experience, probably meant he’d been standing there for the past thirty minutes worried sick that he’d either gotten the time or place wrong, that something bad had happened to his partner, that he’d managed to piss his partner off somehow without realizing, or, God forbid, some horrible combination of the three.  
  
Souji leaned back against the station wall. “Sorry. Alarm. Dead battery. Rough morning.”  
  
As Souji caught his breath, Yosuke crossed his arms and looked him over. Seeing the way Souji’s hair was an uncombed mess that only vaguely resembled it’s usual shape and the untidy collar, Yosuke decided to accept Souji’s excuse. His face eased into a smile and he let out a light laugh as he patted Souji’s shoulder again.  
  
“You had me worried there, Partner.”  
  
“Sorry,” Souji repeated, his lungs finally calming down. He picked up the search for his phone again.  
  
“You know, you could’ve sent me a text or something.”  
  
Souji lifted his head and looked at Yosuke again.  
  
“You didn’t get my text?”  
  
Yosuke raised an eyebrow. “Uh, no?”  
  
And then Souji remembered the last time he’d had his phone.  
  
“Dammit,” he whispered, laying his head back against the wall.  
  
“What?”  
  
Souji didn’t answer, instead rubbing his aching forehead and dragging his hand down his face until Yosuke asked again.  
  
“Something wrong?”  
  
“Yeah, I--” Souji started, then paused to drop his hand back to his side and bounced his head against the wall again. “I think I dropped my phone on the way here.”  
  
“Oh, yeah,” Yosuke said, making Souji raise his eyebrows. “When I tried to call you some guy answered. Said we shouldn’t move. I think he’s probably planning to bring it back.”  
  
“Oh.” Souji let out a relieved sigh. “Alright. Thanks.” He cast a glance around the busy station, then turned back to Yosuke. “I’m really sorry I made you wait so long.”  
  
“It’s no big deal.”  
  
Souji doubted that, having seen the look on Yosuke’s face when he’d arrived, but Yosuke’s spirits seemed to have lifted considerably since then, and he was chuckling softly to himself.  
  
“Hey, uh, Partner?”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“I think your shirt’s on backwards.”  
  
Souji looked down at himself, pulled out his collar and looked, then let it snap back against his skin.  
  
“Yeah, I guess it is,” he said with a bashful smile.  
  
“You gonna fix it?”  
  
Souji shrugged.  
  
“You gonna tell anyone it’s backwards?”  
  
“My lips are sealed.”  
  
Souji adjusted his collar and folded it over proper, tugging it down over the square dent of the tag’s seam.  
  
“Then I’m not worried about it.”  
  
A grin spread over Yosuke’s face, and he bumped Souji playfully with his elbow.  
  
“While we wait, you wanna see my new phone?”  
  
“Oh, sure. Rub it in my face right after I lose mine.” Souji gave Yosuke a warm smile as he said it, and Yosuke gently shoved him.  
  
“Shut up, man.” Yosuke pulled out a smartphone from his bag and held it out in front of them. “Took me forever to save up for this thing, and when I told Ted I was planning to get one, he thought he needed one too, and, well, you know how he is..” Yosuke sighed, apparently exasperated from the memory of it alone, and then continued. “It’s not top of the line or anything, but it does just about anything you can think of. I’ve got most of my music on it too.”  
  
He handed the phone to Souji and let him swipe through the apps.  
  
“Pretty slick,” Souji said, impressed with how smoothly the display flowed at his fingertips. Yosuke laughed at him.  
  
“What are you, my dad? Who says slick anymore?”  
  
Souji looked at Yosuke dead in the eye.  
  
“You caught me, Partner. I was your dad in disguise this whole time.”  
  
Yosuke nudged Souji again, grin stretched wide across his face. Souji shot him a quick smile in return, then looked back down at the phone. He swiped it over to the next screen. One app caught his attention, with a distinct red and black eye on its icon.  
  
“What’s this one do?” Souji asked, pointing at it. “Is it a game?”  
  
Yosuke leaned over to look at it closer, and his grin slid away.  
  
“What the… I didn’t install that.” Yosuke shuffled his hair in frustration and groaned to the sky. “Don’t tell me I got a virus already.”  
  
“Your phone can get a virus?” Souji said too late, his fingertip already pressed against the icon.  
  
“Yeah, it--” Yosuke looked back down at the phone. “ _Don’t touch it!!_ ” His eyes shot back up to where Souji’s face had been. “Why would you--”  
  
Had been.  
  
“He’s gone.” Yosuke froze at the sight of the wall as he felt something inside drop from his chest to his stomach. “Oh God. Crap. _Crap._ ” One hand at his hip and another running through his hair, he started to pace back and forth in front of the station, passersby barely dodging his frantic patterns on the sidewalk.  
  
“He’s gone.” Yosuke repeated, trying to convince himself that it’d really happened and his voice tightening with panic as he succeeded. “He’s really gone. Just… just… _poof_. Right out of thin air.”  
  
He halted to look over the spot where Souji had been standing, then began to pace again, even quicker.

* * *

  
When Souji looked up from Yosuke’s phone, not only was Yosuke gone, but so was the entire population of the train station. The smile quickly fell from his face. His eyes bounced from the eerie ticket gate, to the blue glowing prison bars, to the bleak darkness behind him, and back again.  
  
For the most part, all of the station’s features were still in their proper locations, save for the prison cell door, which was definitely new, despite its nostalgic glow. Souji, putting away Yosuke’s phone for the time being, approached the door, then, with a cautious yet sturdy grip, he tugged at it. The lock clacked at him in protest as he racked the door back and forth in what little space it allowed him. He loosened his grip and let his hand slide down as he looked the door over once more.  
  
His brows came together ever so slightly as his eyes landed on the lock chained over the door’s edge, then he took the velvet room key from his pocket and tried it. Then tried it again. And again. And again.  
  
He pulled the key back out and frowned at it.  
  
“No good, huh?”  
  
The door loomed over him, casting its blue glow over his disappointed features. He pocketed the key again and crossed his arms. He could feel his personas stirring in the back of his mind, more so than usual. It was comforting to know they were still there, but their awakening and the thought that he might need them again soon were somewhat ominous, especially if he had no access to the velvet room’s services nor his sword at his side.  
  
A noise from beyond the gate shook him out of his thoughts.  
  
Souji approached the gate, careful to keep his steps light and his guard up. Seeing no threats, he went in further, taking in the atmosphere of the abandoned station.  
  
He heard the sound again, to his left, louder, clearer. It was a low growl he remembered hearing in the TV only a year or so ago. He turned to face it just in time to dodge the shadow charging toward him.  
  
Feeling more frightened than he looked, he thrust out his hand and crushed the growing blue flame in his palm before it could take its usual form. There was a sharp ache in his chest, similar to the dread that comes with a footfall where a stair should be but isn’t. A wild bolt of fear flashed over his eyes as he saw the shadow turn back toward him, but as it faded he held his hand out once more, taking a deep breath as he locked eyes with the shadow once again charging toward him. The blue light returned to his hand, piecing together the tarot card, and as he exhaled, the shadow mere feet from him, he shattered it.  
  
Izanagi materialized above him, aiming his blade to the ground, and struck down the beast, bringing it to a halt as it had been face to face with Souji. Straight-faced yet trembling, he watched the shadow’s figure melt away under Izanagi’s weapon. When all but its mask was gone, Izanagi too faded away, back into the depths of Souji’s mind.  
  
Waiting for his body to calm, he took out Yosuke’s phone again and woke up the screen, only to be greeted by a lock screen asking him for a code. Souji chewed the inside of his cheek as he tried to think of what the password might be. It appeared to be four digits. Souji typed in Yosuke’s birthday, but the phone remained locked. Having no other ideas, he put the phone away again.  
  
Souji swallowed, flexing his shaking fingers at his sides as he decided to head back to the safety of the entrance.  
  
Before he could turn around, a chain rattled behind him.  
  
“ _Dammit._ ”

* * *

  
“What do I do what do I do what do I do--” Yosuke’s voice caught in his throat when a pair of hands gripped his shoulders and stopped him.  
  
“You alright?”  
  
Yosuke looked up to see another guy, about his age, with bright bleached hair and eyebrows that were scary in the same way an angry short person was scary.  
  
“Do I look alright to you?!”  
  
“Not really,” said the guy’s friend as he pushed up his glasses. Yosuke pulled himself away with a frustrated scowl as he continued, “You’re blocking the exit.”  
  
Yosuke looked at the gate and the crowd flowing around them, then let his shoulders and his anger drop.  
  
“Sorry, I just...” He scratched his head and looked around anxiously. “My partner, he-- he was just here and…”  
  
The other two shared a glance, the shorter and significantly less intimidating one raising his eyebrows while the other shrugged in response.  
  
“Tall guy? Silver hair, bowl cut, clumsy?”  
  
Yosuke glanced up at the one in glasses, then down at his thoughts, then back up.  
  
“You know him?”  
  
“Kinda,” he said with a small shrug, then dug a familiar teal cell phone from his pocket. “This belong to your friend?”  
  
“Yeah!” Yosuke blurted out, but then he shrank back again. “Or, it did? I don’t know. He just. He just. Crap, you guys are gonna think I’m crazy or something, but he disappeared? Like I looked up and he gone. I’d literally just been looking at his hand and--”  
  
“Why were you looking at his hand?” asked the scary one.  
  
“Ryuji. Not important right now,” said the other.  
  
“Oh, right. My bad,” Ryuji said, the apologetic twist of his tiny brows knocking his intimidation factor down a couple notches.  
  
“I was showing him my phone,” Yosuke said, a tad bit defensive. “There was this creepy app that showed up and he opened it and then he was _gone_.”  
  
A cat’s head poked up over the shoulder of the boy in glasses.  
  
“Interesting,” the cat said, or at least, Yosuke could have sworn the cat said it, and his eyes widened under pressed brows.  
  
“Excuse me?”  
  
The one in glasses raised his eyebrows.  
  
“Sorry. My bad, actually. Thanks, Ryuji.”  
  
Ryuji scratched the back of his head. “I, uh… Sure thing, Akira.”  
  
Yosuke gave them both hard looks as he searched their faces for some clue as to what Akira was talking about.  
  
“The phone’s gone with him?” Akira asked, pushing up his glasses in a way that gave them a reflective sheen and made Yosuke reconsider which one of them was the most intimidating.  
  
“Y-yeah,” Yosuke said, startled out of his panicked thoughts. “You know about it?”  
  
“A little.” Akira gave a tiny half shrug as he put away Souji’s phone and pulled out his own. He tapped the screen, then turned it to Yosuke. “Did the app look like this?”  
  
And there it was, the same ominous red and black eye from before.  
  
Yosuke curled his hands up into fists at his sides and swallowed.  
  
“Yeah, exactly like that.”  
  
Akira’s mouth twitched up into the tiniest smile.  
  
“I think we can help.”  
  
Akira turned his attention back to his phone and tapped it again.  
  
“Thank God--” Yosuke began to say, only to have his thoughts cut short by the way the world morphed around them, the crowds disappearing and the station gates fading under rusty shadows in the increasingly too dim light. “Oh _what the hell?!_ ”  
  
Akira, looking bizarrely picaresque, and Ryuji, donning what a modern day pirate might wear, stood before him in outfits and masks they’d definitely not been wearing just a moment ago. Beside them was… a cat? Or something like a cat? Probably a cat. Sure. Why not? Why the hell not?  
  
Yosuke dragged his hands down his face.  
  
“Calm down, man. We’re gonna help you.” Ryuji patted Yosuke on the shoulder.  
  
“No, I know, I know. Thanks. I just...” Yosuke took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I should’ve expected this. It’s always something with that guy.”  
  
Ryuji and Akira shared another glance.  
  
“Uh...” Ryuji began, but Yosuke kept going.  
  
“This stuff always follows him back to Inaba. _Always._ ” Yosuke scrubbed his forehead. “I don’t know why I thought this would be different.”  
  
“You alright?” Ryuji gripped Yosuke’s shoulder more firmly.  
  
“Do I look any more alright than I was a minute ago?!” Yosuke snapped. Ryuji flinched back.  
  
“You don’t have to yell at me!”  
  
“How am I supposed to react? My best friend disappeared and now you two are playing dress up in a haunted train station!”  
  
Akira looked up from his phone.  
  
“Do you want our help or not?” he asked, sliding his phone back into his pocket.  
  
“Well, yeah, but--”  
  
“Then let’s get going. It looks like your friend didn’t stick around the entrance.”  
  
Akira and Ryuji started to walk toward the gates, the tails of Akira’s jacket swaying behind him. Yosuke clenched his fist and took a step forward.  
  
“Don’t you owe me some kind of explanation?!”  
  
Akira and Ryuji stopped, but to Yosuke’s surprise, it was the cat that replied.  
  
“You know, from where we stand, you’re the suspicious one.”  
  
“How am I--”  
  
“Well, you were able to hear Morgana outside of this space, for one,” Akira said, turning back. “Same goes for your ‘partner,’ I noticed. I’d say that leaves you both with some explaining to do.”  
  
“I don’t know how your magic cat works, okay? I didn’t try to hear it.”  
  
“I’m not a cat!”  
  
Yosuke shuffled his hair in frustration. “Then what _are_ you?”  
  
“I’m Morgana!”  
  
“No, but what--”  
  
“Is this really important right now?” Akira walked up to Yosuke and held Souji’s flip phone between their faces. Yosuke faltered, then dropped his gaze to the ground.  
  
“Sorry.”  
  
Akira took Yosuke’s hand, lifted it up, and pressed Souji’s phone to his palm. Yosuke lifted his head, and Akira smiled softly at him.  
  
“Let’s go.”  
  
Yosuke nodded and forced a smile back.  
  
“Yeah.”

* * *

  
Less than ideal had been an understatement, Souji realized.  
  
He sat behind a pillar listening to the chains drag past him on the opposite side. He was doing his best to keep his breathing silent, but he could have sworn his heart was the loudest thing in the room. His eyes were darting around, searching for his next hiding place. He’d been hoping the sound of chains would fade away into the darkness and he could make a break for the gates, but the sound just kept circling around and forcing him deeper into the catacombs for safety.  
  
The one good thing about this situation, he discovered, was that the other shadows seemed just as eager as he was to avoid the reaper. Not that he could blame them. He’d already heard one shadow go down squealing after a single gunshot.  
  
Souji snuck to his next hiding spot while the reaper was busy sniping down another unlucky shadow. After he made sure he was out of sight, he took out Yosuke’s phone again and racked his brain for other relevant four digit numbers in Yosuke’s life. He entered the last four digits of Yosuke’s phone number. That wasn’t it either. Would have been too obvious, Souji supposed. He checked around the corner. Sure enough, the reaper was still there. He checked the phone again and entered the last four digits of the Hanamuras’ landline.  
  
Nope.  
  
The numbers in Yosuke’s home address.  
  
Not it.  
  
The year they graduated high school.  
  
Nope.  
  
Yosuke’s favorite idol’s birthday.  
  
No.  
  
Souji checked around the corner again. The reaper, looking him dead in the eye, lifted its shotgun. Souji ducked back behind the wall just in time to feel the breeze of the bullet whizzing by his cheek and leaving him with an expression of quiet alarm as he watched it lodge itself deep into the far wall.  
  
Left with no other choice, he scrambled to his feet and ran for his life.  
  
As he ran as fast as his legs would carry him, he turned his attention to the phone one last time.  
  
6969.  
  
…  
  
…  
  
...  
  
Nothing.  
  
“ _Seriously?_ ”

* * *

  
Not far into their search, a gunshot echoed through the cavern with the rumble of chains following shortly after. A pit of dread dropped into Yosuke’s gut, and he took off running toward the sound. Akira and Ryuji chased after him.  
  
“Hey! Wait a second!” Morgana yelled after them just before leaping up and letting his form burst into that of a vehicle.  
  
“I don’t have a second!” He heard Yosuke call back. Morgana sighed and hit the gas.  
  
He caught up to Akira quickly.  
  
“Get in, Joker!”  
  
Akira nodded and did so, jumping up onto Morgana’s front door and catching himself on the ridge of the door through the open window and the step beneath it. Hooking both hands under the top frame of the window, he curled himself up, then slid in though the open space with the ease of a practiced acrobat. When Morgana reached Ryuji, he too hopped on, but then opened the door normally and got in.  
  
Morgana sighed.  
  
“You still have a long way to go, Skull.”  
  
“Wha-- I got in, didn’t I?”  
  
“But it was so lame. Phantom thieves gotta have style.” Morgana swerved around Yosuke and sped ahead of him.  
  
“You have a _car_? You never said anything about having a car!” Yosuke pushed himself to go faster, but couldn’t match Morgana’s speed despite his best efforts.  
  
“I have style!” Ryuji sputtered as they left Yosuke in the dust. “I’m just—I’m saving it for later.”  
  
Morgana rolled his headlights. “Yeah. Right.”  
  
“Yeah, well--” Ryuji leaned back in the seat and crossed his arms in a pout. “I’ll show you.”  
  
Akira patted Ryuji’s shoulder.  
  
“I believe you, Skull.”  
  
Ryuji’s pout broke into a small bashful smile.  
  
“Thanks, man.”  
  
Another gunshot rang through the air. Morgana revved his engine.  
  
“Almost there, hold on!” he said skidding into a drift and sharply taking the next right before either of his passengers had a chance to grip anything. Akira and Ryuji were both flung to the left. “One more!” Morgana announced and the two of them clung to the overhead handles as though their lives depended on it.  
  
Morgana took another turn, and the reaper stood in plain sight, looming overhead, almost as tall as the ceiling, his shotgun pointed directly at Souji.  
  
Akira leapt out of Morgana and whipped out his pistol, taking aim at the space between the shotgun barrel and its target, who’d begun to move toward them. When Akira saw the reaper’s finger budge, he fired.  
  
Two shots fired in rapid succession, followed by sharp metal sound as both bullets ricocheted off each other and into the darkness.  
  
The reaper raised its head and directed its eye toward the source of the other bullet.  
  
Akira smirked.  
  
The reaper lifted another gun, cross hairs targeted on Akira as Ryuji rushed out of the vehicle and to Akira’s side, steel spiked bat gripped tightly in his hand.  
  
“You think you can hit me?” Akira tilted his head back and lazily raised his gun to the enemy, twirling it on his index finger as he looked down through the slits of his mask.  
  
Ryuji lifted his bat over his shoulder and glared at the reaper for but a moment, then evened his stance.  
  
As the reaper fired, Ryuji swung, his steel bat hitting the last bullet with a loud clang and sending it back, straight into the reaper’s eye.  
  
Yosuke had arrived only moments before, riding in on Jiraiya’s shoulder just in time to see the spectacle and watch the reaper writhe in pain.  
  
“ _Whoa,_ ” he whispered to himself as Jiraiya flew over the scene.  
  
“Aw, dude, it bent my bat!” Ryuji held his weapon in his hands, his face absolutely crestfallen.  
  
Akira patted his shoulder as he passed Ryuji and shrugged. “It suits you.”  
  
Ryuji held it up to examine it closer.  
  
“You think so?”  
  
Jiraiya circled around to the edge of the room until they reached Souji, who was looking exhausted and shaken, but more than anything, relieved.  
  
“Yosuke.”  
  
“Yeah, Partner?”  
  
“What’s your lock screen password?”  
  
Yosuke chuckled halfheartedly, still too drained from the situation to appreciate the humor of it in full.  
  
“I’ll tell you later,” Yosuke promised, wrapping an arm around Souji’s waist and pulling Souji’s arm over his shoulders to steady him.  
  
“Alright,” Souji said with a small nod. “Oh, and Yosuke?”  
  
“Hm?”  
  
“Thanks.”  
  
They exchanged tired, yet sincere smiles, only to have the moment ruined by the reaper’s shotgun barrel plowing into the tangle of tracks next to them. Chains rattled as the gun rose back up. Yosuke summoned Jiraiya back and cast a wind spell propel the dust around them into the reaper’s wound.  
  
“C’mon, let’s go, Partner.”  
  
Souji nodded again, and they headed in Morgana’s direction as fast as they could. Yosuke watched their back, trying to keep the reaper busy with Jiraiya, but feeling his energy steadily seeping away with each mental command.  
  
“Can you summon any of your personas?”  
  
Souji shook his head and pressed on.  
  
“Outta juice.”  
  
Yosuke tried to laugh, but instead ended up wincing as one of the reaper’s bullets grazed Jiraiya’s arm.  
  
Akira and Ryuji ran past the two of them and toward the reaper, hands reaching for their masks and Morgana, once again in his organic form, following not far behind.  
  
“Not exactly what you had planned for us today, huh?”  
  
“Not quite.”  
  
They turned back at the sound of Akira and Ryuji summoning their personas and saw their inner selves made manifest on the battlefield. Souji laughed weakly.  
  
“I have a lot of questions.”  
  
“Me too, Partner.” Yosuke sighed. “Me too.”  
  
Souji glanced back once more.  
  
“Why is its top hat laced to its neck?”  
  
“You think I know?”  
  
Souji laughed again, stronger, his grin spreading wide.  
  
Then, from behind them, swearing, several shots, and “ _Run!_ ”  
  
They turned to see Akira and Ryuji dashing toward them. Morgana spun himself into his other body and flung open his doors.  
  
“Get in!”  
  
The four of them did as they were told without argument, piling into Morgana’s carriage as hastily as possible. Morgana slammed the doors closed behind them and took off, leaving a cloud of dust in the aftermath.  
  
“We can’t beat that thing,” Akira said, his former confidence all but gone. He and Ryuji reached for the overhead handles again, and Souji warily started to raise his hand to his handle until the whole vehicle jolted him and Yosuke to one side and then the other. They landed in a heap in the back seat. Yosuke was laying on top of Souji, moaning his pains aloud for everyone to hear.  
  
Another bullet flew past them, and Morgana’s wheels squealed as he and Akira both laid into the gas pedal. Akira let go of the handle and held on instead to the steering wheel.  
  
Souji lifted himself up from the crevice between the front and back seats.  
  
“If we use the app now will it throw us back into our world?”  
  
“Probably?” Akira said, not looking up from the road.  
  
“You don’t know?!” Yosuke asked, pulling himself up only to get knocked back down by another bump in the path.  
  
Ryuji turned around. “It’s not like we’re experts on this stuff!”  
  
Souji shrugged. “It’s worth a shot. Yosuke, what’s your password?”  
  
“It’s...” Yosuke paused, looking away so Souji wouldn’t see the soft pink spreading across his face. “It’s your birthday.”  
  
Souji blinked.  
  
“Mine?”  
  
“Yeah, so I wouldn’t forget it.”  
  
“Oh.” Souji rubbed his nose and turned away too, trying to ignore the heat in his face. “Thanks. Say, Yosuke?”  
  
Somewhere behind them, the reaper fired six bullets in succession, making everyone in the vehicle flinch.  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Next time pick something easier to guess.”  
  
The blush on Yosuke’s face gave way to a wry smile.  
  
“Doesn’t that kind of defeat the point of a password?”  
  
Souji shrugged. “I guess?”  
  
He input his birthday and hit enter. The screen changed colors and returned to the home display. Souji swiped through the apps until he found the eye again, and tapped it.  
  
The five of them came tumbling back into the real world, piled on top of one another at the station’s main exit, Morgana suffering at the bottom.  
  
They pulled each other apart and brushed the dirt from themselves, laughter bubbling up and out of each one of them as relief washed over them.  
  
“Thanks for saving me today.” Souji held out his hand to Akira, who shook it, and then to Ryuji, who did the same, and then to Morgana, who offered a friendly paw.  
  
“Hey, what about me?” Yosuke winked.  
  
“And you, of course,” Souji said with a playful nudge.  
  
“No problem, Partner,” Yosuke said, looking strangely proud of himself, then turned to the others. “Say, if you guys wanna join us for food, you’re welcome to come with.”  
  
“I’ll buy,” Souji offered. “As thanks.”  
  
“Tempting.” Akira’s mouth tilted into a small grin.  
  
“And we do have a lot to talk about,” Morgana said, pawing at Akira’s leg.  
  
Ryuji perked up. “Yeah, like how you guys have personas too. We gotta swap stories.”  
  
“Sounds like we’re in agreement,” Akira said, adjusting his bag over his shoulder. “Where are we headed?”  
  
“Just a second, I’ll look it up on my phone.” Yosuke turned to Souji. “You still got it?”  
  
“Yeah, here.” Souji handed it over. “You have mine?”  
  
“Oh, yeah, I...” Yosuke started patting himself down, then frowned as he only found empty pockets. “Where’d it go?”  
  
“Maybe try calling it?”  
  
Yosuke pulled up Souji’s number in his contacts and pressed ‘Call.’  
  
As he held his phone to his ear, a muffled ringing noise came from below. Following the noise, everyone’s eyes came to a stop on Morgana and his vibrating belly.  
  
Morgana glared up at Yosuke.  
  
“Don’t tell me…”  
  
Souji, too, looked to his partner.  
  
“You dropped it in the car, didn’t you?”  
  
Yosuke chewed his lip and turned away.  
  
“Maybe.” Yosuke rubbed his neck. “I’ll buy you a new phone.”  
  
“What about me?!” Morgana asked with eyes as icy as a cat could muster. Akira picked him up from the sidewalk as though nothing was wrong.  
  
“C’mon, let’s go back to Mementos,” Akira sighed. “Coming, Ryuji?”  
  
“Yeah, on my way.” Ryuji scratched his head. “Sorry, guys. Be right back.”  
  
“No problem.” Souji gave them a small nod, and Yosuke let out a nervous laugh. They watched the three of them disappear and Yosuke whined.  
  
“Sorry. Looks like I really messed up.”  
  
Souji shook his head.  
  
“I could’ve died if you hadn’t come after me with them.” He gave Yosuke a pat on the back. “Thanks for being here.”  
  
“C’mon, don’t get all mushy.” Yosuke gave Souji a gentle shove, smiling in spite of his words. Souji laughed gently.  
  
The other three returned, looking unusually solemn.  
  
“You don’t want it back, man.” Ryuji shook his head.  
  
“Trust us,” Akira said, eyes glued to the sidewalk.  
  
“Trust us,” Morgana echoed weakly from Akira’s bag.  
  
Souji and Yosuke shared a glance of their own, then followed after the others and attempted to distract them from whatever they’d just seen, grateful to finally have some safe, normal time to spend together.


End file.
